Passengers and travelers that travel over long distances with or without stop-over's typically have difficulty relaxing and falling asleep while sitting in upright positions. Most seats on aircraft, busses, trains and the like, have limited capability of allowing the seat to be fully reclined to a horizontal position. Most seats cannot fully recline since a reclined seat would hit against a passenger sitting behind. As such, the passenger/traveler has to try to relax and sleep in a generally upright position.
A problem with sitting upright is that the head of the seated passenger/traveler will tend to fall sideways and foreword over time. Using one's hand to support one's head is difficult since there is nothing for the bent elbow to rest on, and is also uncomfortable.
Seat belt harnesses and cross-chest straps may keep the passenger/traveler in a vertical position, but do not prevent their head from bending side to side or bending forward.
A popular type of travel aid is the ergonomic pillow generally formed from foam with a side cut-out so that the pillow can wrap about one's neck. See for example, U.S. Des. D444,980 to Mowat et al. However, these types of pillows are best used by persons in generally horizontal sleeping positions, which do not have the problem of the passenger/traveler being in an upright sitting position where they can tend to fall forward. Additionally, these types of foam pillows can be quite bulky and are not easily collapsible.
Attempts have been made of the years to attach headrests on seats. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 42,084 to Hambujer; U.S. Pat. No. 104,473 to Lyon et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 162,784 to White; U.S. Pat. No. 221,752 to Taylor; U.S. Pat. No. 379,987 to Ryan; U.S. Pat. No. 426,069 to Rogers; U.S. Pat. No. 255,814 to Pulsifer; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,393,057 to Fraser.
However, these headrest supports are generally limited to single pads, curved bars, which rest against the side or back of the head, and do not prevent the passenger/traveler from falling forward. Additionally, these devices are generally bulky, and do not fold up when not being used.
Thus, the need exists for solutions to the above problems with the prior art.